UPDATED:
Glenn discussed this story further on GBTV, commenting on The Pope's reasons for making so many conservative bishops into cardinals:
Original Story:
It appears that the Obama Administration has decided to double down in their attack on the Catholic Church. The State Department has put the church onto its money laundering concern list, which means the federal government can now monitor their cash flow.
“Now’s the time when we’re going to see whether the Vatican is really truly going to stand,” Glenn said, “I will tell you this Pope is going to stand. How long this Pope stands, I don’t know.”
Last month Glenn took a trip to the Vatican to meet with many of the church’s top officials. He went for many reasons, one of which was that history was being made there. “You are witnessing history,” Glenn recalled telling his children.
There is an internal conflict inside of the Catholic Church right now, one that goes beyond Obamacare and global politics. Glenn described it as “a spiritual battle, and a battle that this Pope has been on a track to fight. I will tell you that I didn't know how I felt about this Pope or anything else until I was in Rome and I spoke to some of the counselors and to some of the people there. They really, truly get it.”
It’s rare that Glenn finds a leader of a country or any large organization that really “gets it,” but after speaking with many of the Catholic officials that is what Glenn was led to believe. The Pope has also been appointing a lot of strong traditionally conservative Cardinals—packing the Catholic Church with those who will stand for their values if he were to step down.
This Pope has also been issuing a lot of letters to the church’s leaders in America, calling for the priests and bishops to stand up against the attacks on their faith. One example is a recent letter telling these leaders to stand up against the attack on traditional marriage in the church—a message that is supposed to be delivered this coming weekend.
“The Pope knows that there is a split in the Catholic Church, and he is trying to fight against it from the inside,” Glenn said when explaining that most likely many American Catholic Churches will not deliver this message to their congregants.
Social justice, an issue Glenn has harped on since long before the attack on Catholics, is one major cause of the divide inside of the church. Progressives and progressive organizations have been inside the Catholic Church for a long time. Soros organizations and his money have had a lot of influence in the church, some of the same organizations that have gone after Glenn in the past few years.
The most recent move by the Obama Administration, using the State Department to monitor money that goes through the Vatican is being portrayed as “help.” Glenn described the move as the State Department sarcastically saying, “we want to be sure that nobody is laundering money through the Vatican. We’re just going to put all of these new regulations up so that you can do business cleanly.”
Glenn does not believe that this Pope will acquiesce to the White House. “Obama’s thrown the gauntlet down,” Glenn said. “He’s doubled down. He first said you will acquiesce. And the Pope said we will not submit. We will not comply. He took a stand, and if the American people don’t stand with the Catholics and the Catholics don’t stand with the Pope, it isn’t gonna last long.”
Glenn went on to explain that they always start with one group, but it never stays with one group. The Catholics are under attack now, but if they can get an organization that large to give up their freedoms how long before they try to do the same to other religious organizations?
“Call your parish. Call your Catholic friends. Tell them. You stand to help them. Tell them you will stand with them. If we don't hang together, we will certainly hang separately, to quote Benjamin Franklin,” Glenn concluded.